


The Walk Through Hell

by charliechick117



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-02-26 12:03:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18716689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charliechick117/pseuds/charliechick117
Summary: Dragged into the city to save his brother, Ori and Dwalin could do nothing but run, leaving behind their families, but saving Nori and Bofur.They have to return to their families, back to the settlements that are safe from the zombies, but a massive city filled with the dead lies between them and their destination.  Hardly prepared for a week long journey in the wilderness with a spark of attraction already blooming between them, Dwalin and Ori have to learn to trust each other in the zombie wasteland.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dwori - Week 4](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8185303) by [charliechick117](https://archiveofourown.org/users/charliechick117/pseuds/charliechick117). 



> So that zombie!AU I wrote for the 4th week of Orwal was one of my favorites from that week and I desperately wanted to know what happened next.
> 
> This picks up almost immediately after that little drabble. Reading it isn't necessary for this fic - but it does help offer some backstory to what kind of world this is and why Ori is separated from his family.

There was a phrase, one that Ori didn't really understand until he was running down the street, hollering at Nori about the motorcycle and being chased by a horde of zombies.  His gun was nearly empty and the baseball bat he picked up in the offices was dripping blood.  Dwalin shouted as the horde growled and they ran deeper into the city.

When you go through hell, keep walking.

* * *

The motorcycle was fast.  It had been years since Nori had ridden one but his muscle memory served him well, despite Bofur’s body as an awkward counterbalance.  Whatever Dwalin and Ori had done was certainly distracting the zombies, giving Nori and Bofur a chance to escape, medicine tucked safely in Nori’s backpack.

Nori was outside the city limits when he realized what he had done.  He turned off the motorcycle and dropped it to the ground, nearly upending Bofur from the back of the bike.  The Blue Mountain Settlement was up the hill and through a small forest, no more than ten minutes away.  Nori had the medicine for Bombur’s baby in his bag.

But he abandoned his baby brother to the zombie hordes for it.

“Take the medicine,” Nori said, shoving his bag into Bofur’s arms.  “I have to – ”

“To what?  To die?” Bofur grabbed Nori’s arm before he could walk back to the city.  “Ori and Dwalin are in the city, Nori.  There’s a horde of zombies chasing after them.  If we go back, we die and all of this is for nothing.”

“But Ori!”

“There’s nothing left for him!” Bofur shouted.

Nori pushed him.  “How can you say that?!  He’s my brother!  My little brother.  Oh, god, Dori is going to kill me.  Bofur… I can’t… I can’t leave him like this!”

Bofur’s hands were wrapped up in Nori’s jacket, holding him close and preventing him from running back to the city like he wanted to – like he needed to.  This was Nori’s baby brother, the closest thing to a civilian in this hellscape of a world.  Even with Dwalin, an experienced scavver, Ori had never been out among the zombies.

He wouldn’t last two minutes with a horde trailing him.

“Even if we went back, Nori, think about it,” Bofur shook Nori slightly.  “It’s the middle of the night, the city is crawling with zombies, and we’re not armed to fight them off.  Not to mention my baby niece needs this medicine as soon as possible.  You’re doing no one favors by going to die with Ori.  Come on now,” Bofur yanked Nori to the motorcycle.  “We’ll start a search party in the morning.”

Numbly, Nori let Bofur manhandle him onto the bike and drive back to the settlement.   His guts twisted with guilt.  If he and Bofur had been quieter then this never would have happened.  If they hadn’t drawn the horde, if they hadn’t been reckless, Ori would be safe in the settlement.

“Who goes there?!”

Nori didn’t even realize they were already back home.  He looked up at the massive gate and saw the lookout aiming a rifle over the wall.  Nori recognized her, a small, slender woman with dark skin who was a crack shot with a rifle.

“You’re getting a little jumpy, Caelynn,” Bofur grinned.  “No zombies been here for months, you know that.”

Nori knew that Bofur knew that Caelynn wasn’t set on watch for zombies.  They hadn’t been setting watches for zombies in a long time.

“Bofur!” Caelynn sighed.  “Where… where’s Ori?”

“Let us in and we’ll tell you the whole story,” Bofur said.  “We have medicine for the baby and… well, bad news, I’m afraid.”

The gates swung open.  Standing in the middle of the street, waiting, was Dori.  He was wringing his hands tightly in front of his chest with worry.  Nori’s chest constricted at the sight.  Dori’s eyes trailed over Nori and Bofur, looking past them, looking for Ori no doubt.  The moment the gates shut and there was no Ori, Dori’s face shattered.

“I’m sorry,” Nori said in a rush.  “I didn’t mean to.  It was a mistake… I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t do anything to put Ori in danger.”

“Where is he, Nori,” Dori said, his voice cold.  “Where’s Ori?”

To his horror, tears started to fall.  “I’m sorry.”

Dori took a deep breath and walked forward.  Nori braced himself for a punch, for more shouting, for anything.  Instead, Dori’s strong arms wrapped around him in a bone breaking hug.  All at once, the guilt crashed through Nori and he buried his face in Dori’s shoulder.

“We’re going to find him,” Dori said firmly, not even a waver in his voice.

“You won’t be going alone.”

Nori lifted his face up and saw Thorin walking towards them.  While Nori had been hiding out in the drugstore with Bofur during the treaty talk between Thorin and Ori, he’d seen Thorin come by before.  It was good to see that nothing had changed – Thorin was still tall and regal, managing to look down on everyone with his blue eyes.

“We’ll start searching in the morning,” Thorin said.  “We must be quick and quiet in small groups, no more than three.  We’ll start where Nori and Bofur found the medicine and branch out from there.  Do you have any accurate maps of the area?”

Dori nodded and took Thorin by the arm back to the building acting as city hall for the entire settlement.  Nori’s limbs were stiff and his eyes were still damp with tears.  Bofur’s hand touched his arm gently.  The rest of the settlement dispersed, whispering among themselves.  Already, Nori could hear plans to save Ori.

Everyone in the Blue Mountain Settlement loved Ori.  There would be no shortage of volunteers to rescue him.

“Dwalin’s with him too, don’t forget,” Bofur said softly to Nori.  “He’s been fighting zombies since the outbreak.  There’s no one better to look out for Ori.”

“I know,” Nori mumbled.  “He’s just… he’s my brother.”

Bofur’s arms, strong from moving wood and steel, wrapped around Nori’s shoulders, pulling him in for a hug.  They had been friends before the Outbreak, when Bofur was just a construction worker and Nori just a thief with a knack for engineering.  Building the settlement, hunting and working alongside each other, only cemented that friendship.

It was Bofur who dragged Nori to bed, who tucked him in tight.  It was Bofur who said such soothing words to comfort him.  Then, when exhaustion hit and Nori found himself falling asleep, it was Bofur he clung to through the night.


	2. Chapter 2

It was nothing less than a miracle, finding somewhere safe to hole up in the middle of a horde infested city.  It was Dwalin who spotted it – a library with two great front doors.  Ori’s initial adrenaline rush was failing him.  Each swing of his new baseball bat became more sluggish and each step was agonizing.  His lungs burned, his legs quivered, but he kept pushing.

Dwalin pushed open the library doors and ushered Ori inside.  The sound of the horde was further behind, but still too close for comfort.  Once inside, Dwalin didn’t pause.  He sprinted across the foyer and started pulling down bookshelves, shoving them to barricade the front door.

As much as Ori wanted to help, he couldn’t force himself to move.  All his limbs shook like a newborn lamb and the bat slipped through his fingers.  Instead, he just watched as Dwalin moved shelf after shelf in front of the wooden double doors.

“It’s not perfect, but it’ll do,” Dwalin huffed.  “C’mon, we need to go upstairs.”

Ori groaned at the idea of stairs, but pushed himself up, using the bat as a crutch.

“We’ll make a second barricade at the bottom of the stairs,” Dwalin said.  “Just in case.”

Still struggling to catch his breath, Ori only nodded.  Dwalin put a hand on Ori’s shoulder, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to his forehead.

“Never been outside a settlement?”

Breathless, for an entirely different reason, Ori only nodded.

“Go upstairs and try and make a place for us to stay the night,” Dwalin instructed him.  “I’ll build another barricade and be up soon.”

On wobbly legs, Ori climbed up the stairs.  It wasn’t a huge library and the likelihood of hidden zombies was slim.  Regardless, Ori kept his bat close just in case.  He doubted he could kill anyone, zombie or otherwise, in his state, but it wouldn’t do for Ori to get jumped for being too relaxed.

After the Outbreak, there wasn’t much need for books, leaving the library almost entirely untouched.  The few scavvers that had come through only took survival books and anything that could be salvaged into scraps.  The rest, to Ori’s utter delight, was untouched.  It took him all of ten minutes before grabbing a stack of books to read, the entire apocalypse put out of his mind.

Twenty minutes later, Dwalin crept up the stairs.  Ori, so engrossed in his reading, spared only a brief glance at Dwalin, who only let out a soft chuckle before sitting on the floor next to him.

“Should’ve known you’d be distracted,” he said.  “Your brothers said you were the scholarly type.  What happened to making a place for the night?”

Ori looked over his book and gave Dwalin his best glare.  “I have my books; I’m all set.”

“We have to run for our lives in the morning, Ori,” Dwalin said.  “You can’t stay up all night reading.”

“Won’t be all night,” Ori shook his head.  “Just a few hours.”

From the corner of his eye, Ori watched as Dwalin set up a small camp.  Ori knew Dwalin had a large bag he carried with him, but it was surprising to watch how much Dwalin managed to pack into such a small bag.  First was a small camp stove, which Dwalin lit and put a can of soup on it.  Then came a small sleeping bag which he spread out on the floor.

As much as Ori wanted to continue reading, his curiosity about Dwalin got the better of him.  He snapped the book shut and leaned forward, curling his arms around his legs.  Dwalin set up his little camp with quick efficiency, well-practiced moves that spoke volumes about Dwalin’s experience.

“Tell me about Erebor,” Ori said.  “Is it really the largest settlement in the north?”

“Used to be,” Dwalin stirred the soup on the stove.  “It’s like the Blue Mountain Settlement, created out of a neighborhood.  Thorin’s family and mine were neighbors.  When the Outbreak hit, we banded together, kept each other safe.”

“Do you have any siblings?” Ori probed.

Dwalin gave Ori a suspicious look.  “Why so curious?”

“I’m traveling with a man I’ve known for almost twelve hours who decided, on a whim, to help save my brother because of my pretty face,” Ori said.  “I think I’m due a few questions.”

Dwalin laughed out loud at that.  He pulled the soup from the stove and blew out the fire, pushing it to the side.  “Here,” Dwalin handed the can to Ori.  “You’ll need it.”

“Where are we going?” Ori asked, taking a sip of the soup.

“Back to the settlement,” Dwalin said like it was obvious.  “This was a rescue mission, after all.  Would look bad on our new trade agreements if you don’t make it back.  The problem is that we can’t go back through the city.  We’ll have to go around and that’ll take at least a week.”

“A week?” Ori repeated.  Seven days on the road with just Dwalin for company, outside of the only settlement he’d ever lived in.  Seven days, minimum, fighting zombies that Ori had seen for the first time a few hours ago.  He put the half-drunk soup on the ground and pushed it towards Dwalin.

“Nervous?” Dwalin guessed.

“I’m no fighter,” Ori said.  “I’ve never been out of a settlement before.  I’ll… I’ll probably just slow you down.”

Dwalin scooted closer to him, putting a hand on Ori’s knee and squeezing softly.  “Listen, I’m only saying this once, so listen carefully.  I am _not_ leaving you.  You wielded that bat like you were born to.  Don’t ever think that because you’re untrained that you aren’t capable.”  Dwalin gave Ori a small smile.  “Get some rest.”

Ori nodded and laid down on the floor, pulling his jacket tight around his shoulders.  Dwalin let out a soft huff and pushed the sleeping bag towards him.  There was a protest on Ori’s lips but before he could say anything, Dwalin leaned down and kissed him.  Just a soft, brief kiss, but it left Ori speechless and he tucked into the sleeping bag without argument.

 

It felt like Ori just closed his eyes when he was being shaken awake.  Dwalin’s hand was over his mouth and his eyes were wide.  Ori, briefly disoriented, froze in place.  Even living in a settlement for the last ten years couldn’t break Ori’s survival instinct, honed in when the Outbreak was still fresh.

“Zombies?” Ori whispered against Dwalin’s hand.

“They’re on their way,” Dwalin hissed.  “Are you ready?”

The small camp that Dwalin had set up was already torn down, all of it tucked away except for the sleeping bag Ori was still wrapped in.  Heart in his throat, ears straining to hear anything from downstairs,  Ori crawled out of the sleeping bag.  Dwalin rolled it, quick and efficiently, and stowed it in his bag.  He already had one of his axes in hand and Ori grabbed his baseball bat.

Every move strained Ori’s aching muscles.  His thighs burned as Ori stood up into a crouch.  His arms shook underneath his weight and suddenly the idea of running for his life had him cringing and almost whimpering.

Dwalin looked over at Ori with concern.  “Are you ready?” he repeated.

“I don’t know if I can make it,” Ori said honestly.

“If we’re quiet, there’ll be no more running,” Dwalin said.  “We’ll sneak out just like we snuck in, remember?  Not about to let you die here.”

Dwalin crept over to the window and Ori followed him.

If Ori looked at the skyline, it looked almost like normal.  Like he was in the library early in the morning, grabbing a few books before breakfast.  But as Ori’s eyes traveled down to the street, the Outbreak became all too clear.  They had lost the horde during the night but there were still enough of them shambling through the streets to make Ori’s palms sweat.

In the daylight, Ori could see that their running last night had taken them to the edge of the city proper.  The library was off a main road which led out into the trees and there was a museum across the street, but he couldn’t make out the rest of the buildings.

“We make for the trees,” Dwalin hissed in Ori’s ear.  “Then we make our way around and back to the Blue Mountain Settlement.”

“Aren’t they attracted to noise?’ Ori asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Moving the barricade isn’t going to be quiet,” Ori explained.  “If we want to sneak out of here, then we need a distraction.”

“Do you have an idea?”

“Sort of.”

Ori grabbed the empty soup can from last night.  Crawling through the rubble of the library, he picked up bits of pebbles and rocks and tossed them in the can.  He found a metal bit from a computer and, with some help from Dwalin, bent it over the open end of the can.

Opening the window, Ori threw the rattling can across the street, praying that it landed on its side.  It landed on the sidewalk with a metallic rattle and, to Ori’s delight, the zombies all shuffled towards it.

As they wandered towards the can, one of the zombies kicked it, sending the can rolling down the sidewalk, rattling as it went, drawing out more zombies.  With each rattling roll, the zombies chased after it, leaving the street near empty for Ori and Dwalin to escape.

“Brilliant, Ori,” Dwalin said and kissed his cheek.

With pride coloring his steps, Ori followed Dwalin downstairs.  Dwalin pushed a bookshelf to the side, leaving a small gap for them to squeeze through.  Keeping a hand on Ori’s shoulder, Dwalin led them down the street and to the tree line.

Ori kept waiting for something to happen, for the zombies to turn, to notice them and chase them to the trees.  But as they crept along the broken street, jumping from car to car, nothing happened.  They crossed into the trees without incident.

Immediately, Ori relaxed.  Just having the trees overhead made him feel safer.  His tense shoulders loosened as he took his first steps underneath the trees.  The walk had loosened some of his muscles but Ori still felt sore in his legs and arms.

“If we follow this road, we might run into another settlement, or even a couple of other survivors,” Dwalin said.

“I thought we were going back home,” Ori said.  He swung the bat idly at his side, stretching his arms and back.  “Why are we going to a different settlement?”

“Supplies,” Dwalin said simply.

“Oh, right.”

The walk through the trees was peaceful, other than the abandoned cars and dead bodies.  There were birds singing in the trees, the sun was shining, and Ori was surprisingly happy.  Outside of busy urban areas, the Outbreak was easily contained.  Two or three zombies in the street were easier than a horde of hundreds chasing them.

“You never told me if you have any siblings,” Ori said, nudging Dwalin’s arm.

“Still on that?”

“You met my family, it’s only fair,” Ori shrugged.

“I’ve got one brother,” Dwalin said.  “Older, before you ask.  A right nagging prick some days, but he’s family, it’s what he does.  The world ended and Balin still has time for family dinners and social visits and small talk.”

“Sounds like Dori,” Ori snorted.  “You know, he still gives Nori the stink-eye whenever he brags about picking a lock?”

Dwalin laughed, loud and booming.  “When we get back to the Blue Mountain, you and Dori should come visit Erebor.”

“If we ever get there.”

As if summoned, a zombie from underneath a nearby car lurched forward, bony fingers wrapping around Ori’s ankle in a vice grip.  With a moist growl, the zombie pulled itself forward, teeth bared.  Ori felt warm, moist breath on his ankle and screamed.  He tried to pull his foot free and fell over.

This was it – this was how Ori went out.  Infected by the virus, doomed to die a slow and painful death before being reanimated as a living corpse.

With an almighty roar, Dwalin swung his axe in an arc, catching the zombie’s head on an upswing and splattering its brain against the car door.  Ori, heart pounding, could only shake on the pavement.  Even running through an infested city, he hadn’t been grabbed.  Ori hadn’t felt the grip, unwavering and unyielding, on his skin.

Dwalin shouted and slammed his axe into the zombie’s head again, denting the car door behind it  He swung again and again until the door was practically folded in half and the zombie’s head was nothing more than paste.

“Are you okay?” Dwalin asked, holding a hand out for Ori.

Ori took Dwalin’s hand and he pulled him up, a little more forcefully than he was expecting and he fell into Dwalin’s chest, where his arms cradled around him gently.

“Yeah, yeah,” Ori muttered.  “Just… never seen one up close.”

Dwalin’s hand patted Ori’s back.  “It’s alright, I’m here.  I won’t let anything happen to you.  Do you want something to eat?”

Ori shook his head, the thought of eating something left him nauseous.  “No, I’m okay.  Let’s just keep moving.”

Dwalin pulled back but kept a hand on Ori’s shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

While the maps that Dori had provided weren’t excellent, they were enough for Thorin to begin making a plan.  Ori and Dwalin went to save Nori and Bofur, who were gathering medicine for a sick baby.  According to Dori, that would bring them to the near center of the city, to the last untouched drugstore.

Thorin didn’t like it, but he was hardly surprised.  Ori couldn’t have been more Dwalin’s type if he tried.  It was so unlike Dwalin to play the hero unless a pretty face was involved and Ori was an extremely pretty face.

Thorin slept fitfully through the night, unused to sleeping without Dwalin by his side.  He woke up at sunrise and immediately went to the city hall to look over the maps again.  On his way, Thorin was stopped by no less than fifteen people volunteering to help rescue Ori.  One of them was the woman who was on watch last night.

“You look dead on your feet,” Thorin commented.  “Did you get any sleep?”

“Ori and Dwalin snuck out on my watch,” she said, planting herself in front of Thorin.  “It’s my fault they’re lost and I’ll be damned if I’m not out there finding them.”

Thorin folded his arms and looked down at her.  She was slender with a rifle over her shoulder and a machete on her hip.  She looked young, very young.  Definitely someone who had grown up a post Outbreak world.

“Alright, you’re with me,” Thorin nodded.  “Let’s get inside and organize a couple of search parties.  What’s your name?”

“Caelynn.”

It felt like the entire Settlement was gathered in the building.  Thorin brought out the map and, with Dori’s help, organized the settlers into search parties.  Searching for a missing persons was difficult before but now, with the added problem of zombies, Thorin wasn’t sure how much of his past experience could help out.

“We do this like before,” Thorin said over the gathered group.  “We go in small groups, no larger than three.  You’re all experienced scavvers, you don’t need me to remind you how important it is to stay low and quiet in urban environments.  We spread out from their last known location and only search until early afternoon.  Then we meet back at the settlement with our findings.”

The settlers all nodded and split up into their groups.  There was no way for them to communicate once inside the city, any shouting would only attract more zombies.  The only thing they could do was search the city and hope someone brought back Ori and Dwalin.

Thorin had never seen a city this large before and followed Caelynn as she confidently led him through the streets.  Even as destroyed and dilapidated as the city was, Thorin could see the grandeur in the height of the buildings.  He kept getting distracted by the skyscrapers, by the hundreds of cars left along the road, by the alleys that would be a perfect place for an ambush.

Caelynn was quiet during their walk through the city.  She kept her machete on her hip but her hand was never far from the handle.  They walked slowly around corners, listening for any sign of zombies.

“This way,” she muttered, leading Thorin down a side street.

The street eventually opened up to a large intersection.  Across from where they stood, Thorin could see the broken building of a former law firm, but his eyes were drawn to the ground of the intersection.  He swallowed thickly at the sight.

It was littered with bodies in various states of decay.  Dozens of torn body parts were scattered across the street and the pavement was stained with blood.  Thorin had seen plenty of horrible things, both as a police officer and fighting zombies, but this bloodied intersection was worse than all of them put together.

A slender hand touched his arm.  “You said you’ve never seen a big city before.”

“I used to be a police officer,” Thorin said numbly.

“Doesn’t make it easier,” Caelynn squeezed Thorin’s arm.  She pointed at the ground.  “Look.  There’s blood tracks leading away.”

Thorin looked where Caelynn was pointing and, sure enough, there were blood stains shuffling along the road in the opposite direction of the settlement.  Swallowing the bile in his throat, Thorin put on his officer mask.  This was just another missing persons investigation.

He turned around to look up at the drugstore.  The door had been flung open and, through the doorway, Thorin could see the ransacked interior of the store, including the remains of a small camp fire.  Nori and Bofur’s camp, most likely.

“They’d been here for almost two days,” Caelynn offered.  “Left the day before you lot showed up.  They wouldn’t have stayed here unless they were trapped.”

Thorin looked at the walls of the drugstore.  There were fresh bloodstains on the walls among the handprints and scratch marks.  There was a horde here at one point, crowding the walls, scratching and clawing to get inside.  Something had to draw them off for Nori and Bofur to escape.

“Nori didn’t say what happened,” Thorin stared at the trail of blood.  “Did he?”

Caelynn shook her head.  “Just that Ori and Dwalin came charging in, shouting about a motorcycle, then he and Bofur were running.  He wanted to come back but… he knew he couldn’t.”

“You know the city,” Thorin pointed to the trail.  “Where will this go?”

“South,” Caelynn said.  “We don’t normally go much further than the next few city blocks.  Any further and we’d be spending the night in the city.  Is that where they went?”

“Most likely.  Any settlements in the south?”

“Dunno.  Never been that far.”

Thorin looked up at the sky.  The sun had past the midday point and it was time to head back to the Settlement.  Any longer out in the city and they would be staying the night.  The walk back was easier, Thorin knowing the streets helped immensely.

At the edge of the city, Caelynn stopped.

“I can’t go back,” she said.  “That was _my_ watch, Thorin, that they snuck out on.  I know the need to rescue family.  I would have gone with them.  They didn’t have to go alone.  I’m going to find them, Thorin, no matter what.”

“You can’t go alone,” Thorin protested.  “You’ll just die out there.  Come back with me and we can go together.  Don’t be a fool, Caelynn.”

“They built this settlement,” Caelynn said.  “When the Outbreak hit, Dori gathered us in this neighborhood, helped us build walls to keep us safe.  He taught us how to build a home in this world.  Nori taught me how to shoot a gun.  I helped Bofur build these walls, learned how to deliver a baby for Bombur’s wife.  I owe my entire life to these people, all of us do.  We’d give anything to bring Ori back home.  Every minute we spend waiting is another minute Ori could die.”

Thorin put his hands on Caelynn’s shoulder.  “If we go out to find Ori without a plan, all of us will die, Ori included.  We need a plan, we need supplies, then we can find him.  Don’t forget, Ori’s not alone out there.”

Caelynn sighed and looked down at her feet.  Thorin put a hand on Caelynn’s shoulder and kept a hold of her, leading her back to the Blue Mountain Settlement.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this fic, there's a considerable age gap between Dwalin and Ori but they are still both adults in this current time.

The sun started to set and Ori’s legs felt like lead.  He could barely keep his eyes open as he plodded one foot in front of the other.  He kept a hand on Dwalin’s jacket and focused on just keeping his legs underneath him.

“C’mon, Ori,” Dwalin rumbled.  “Just a little further.”

He couldn’t even muster enough energy to complain.  Ori’s foot caught on a tree root and he stumbled, his grip on Dwalin slipping as he hit the ground.  Ori closed his eyes and let out a breath.  Maybe if he was still enough, the zombies would think he was dead too.  Already he could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness.  He was just so tired.

So.  Tired.

“Hey!” a voice broke through Ori’s daze.

Thick arms slid underneath Ori’s body and lifted him up.  He couldn’t protest as Dwalin cradled him against his chest.  “Stay awake, Ori, just a little longer.”

“Who are you?” the same voice echoed down the road.

Ori liked the voice.  It was friendly and cheerful – a reminder of happier times.

“Just a couple of survivors looking for a place to stay!” Dwalin shouted.  His voice echoed through his chest and rumbled against Ori’s body.

“Well, you better hurry!  Night’s falling soon.”

Ori’s hand flopped on Dwalin’s chest.  He was barely hanging onto consciousness.  He felt Dwalin walk down the street and heard him greet the stranger before the exhaustion fully set in and Ori let himself pass out in Dwalin’s arms.

 

_Thin hands grabbing his legs.  Sharp nails scratching on his skin.  The stench of death and decay surrounding him.  He tried to scream but a horde of bodies encompassed him.  He could feel the teeth digging into his skin, tearing away his flesh.  The taste of blood, thick and coppery, filled his mouth, choking him.  He could hear the wet chomping of teeth, the low growls of hunger, and Ori screamed._

Ori woke up screaming.  His throat was clogged with the scent of zombie flesh, sweet and decaying in the city center.  He could still feel the vice grip of zombie hands on his body, of nails scraping down his skin and teeth biting into his flesh.

He had to get out.  He had to get out!

Ori spun around, trying to escape, and his world tipped over.  He hit the ground with an aching thud and couldn’t help let out a groan.  He was trapped, trapped and tangled and he had to _get out_.

“Ori!”

Thick hands grabbed Ori’s cheeks, familiar hands, and Ori forced his eyes opened.  Piercing blue eyes met his and Ori relaxed in Dwalin’s grip.

“It’s okay, Ori, it’s okay,” Dwalin said.  He pressed their foreheads together and Ori took a deep breath.  “We’re safe.”

The nightmare slowly faded away and Ori had the chance to take in his surroundings.  He was on the floor beside a bed in a small room.  Warm sunlight came in through an open window and Ori could hear birds chirping outside.  He pulled away from Dwalin but kept a hand on Dwalin’s chest, a reminder he was here.

“Where are we?” Ori asked.  “Another settlement?”

Dwalin nodded.  “Are you… are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Ori pulled away and stood up.  He clenched his hands into fists to hide the shaking.  “Are we going home now?”

“Tomorrow.  We need to get supplies and you need to rest.”

“I’m rested.  I want to go home.”

“We will, Ori, but we have to be smart about it,” Dwalin put his hands on Ori’s shoulders, forcing him to look into his eyes.  “If we leave without preparation then we’re as good as dead.  I said this was a rescue mission.  I’m going to bring you home.”

Ori blinked back tears and gave Dwalin a damp smile.  “Promise?”

“Promise.”

Dwalin lifted Ori’s face and leaned down to press a soft kiss on his lips.

The door to the bedroom door opened and in came a short man with a friendly face and curly hair.

“Oh, good, you’re awake!” he grinned.  “Breakfast is ready in the main hall if you two are up for it.  And we have plenty of supplies for your journey back north.”

“Thank you, Bilbo,” Dwalin said.  “If it’s alright with you, we’d like to stay one more night.  Ori needs more time to recover.”

As much as he wanted to protest, the idea of having one more day to rest, one more day before he had to run for his life, had Ori near in tears with relief.  The man, Bilbo, only smiled brightly.

The Shire Settlement was warm and inviting.  Resting on the edge of urban and rural, the settlement was primarily focused on farming.  On his walk to the main hall, Ori saw no less than a dozen different gardens, each of them being tended to by smiling, friendly people.

He wanted to go home.

Ori pushed his food around his plate, hunger suddenly gone.  He had spent the last ten years with his brothers, never far from his family in the Blue Mountain.  Running for his life had staved off most of the homesickness, but now it came rushing into him full force.

If he had known he wouldn’t be coming back – he would have said goodbye.

A warm hand landed on Ori’s leg and he started.  Dwalin’s hand squeezed his thigh gently and he gave Ori a small smile.  Dwalin promised he would take Ori home.  Holding onto that promise, Ori forced himself to eat a few bites.  If they were going to be on the road for the next, he had to keep his strength up.

 

“I used to be a fireman,” Dwalin said as he and Ori walked through the Shire.  “I wanted to save people and it seemed like the best option.  Running into burning buildings, pulling people out, being the first on crime scenes… it was all I lived for.”

“I was… I was a kid,” Ori muttered.  He wrapped his arms around himself and, for the first time, wondered how many years separated him and Dwalin.

Dwalin paused and stared at Ori with wide eyes.  “Ori… how old are you?”

“I just turned twenty-two,” Ori said.  “I was only twelve when the Outbreak hit.”

“God,” Dwalin turned away, rubbing a hand down his face and tugging on his beard.  “Oh, god, Ori…”

“That bad?”

“I’m thirty-four.  I’m twelve years older than you, Ori.  Twelve.  Years.”

Ori’s stomach swooped.  “Oh.”

“I’m going to hell,” Dwalin said.  “It’s official.  I’m going to hell.”

Before Ori could say anything, Dwalin turned and walked away, leaving Ori alone in the road.  He couldn’t believe it – twelve years between him and Dwalin.  He was older than Dori!  Every moment they shared up to this point looked different with the knowledge of their age difference.

Ori sat down on the ground, hot from the spring sun, and let his head fall into his hands.  If he thought seven days on the road with Dwalin was going to be difficult, it would only be worse now.  He’d been away from home for only two days and already his entire world was different.

He should have just stayed home, should have let Dori go save Nori and Bofur.

A shadow fell over Ori and he looked up to see Bilbo smiling down over him.

“Oh, hello,” Ori tried to smile.

“Where’s Dwalin?” Bilbo asked.  “Haven’t seen him two feet away from your side since you two arrived.”

Ori curled up a little and Bilbo sat next to him on the overgrown sidewalk.

“What did you do before the Outbreak?” Ori asked softly.

“I was studying to be a teacher,” Bilbo said.  “Preparing for my final semester and finding a school to student teach at.  What about you?”

“I was in middle school,” Ori whispered.

Bilbo took a sharp inhale.  “So young!  Dwalin is… he’s much older, isn’t he?”

“Twelve years…”

Bilbo hummed.  “That’s not insignificant.”

“It’s not like I can change my feelings for him,” Ori finally said.

“No more than he can change his,” Bilbo said.  “Though it is rather unexpected.  The heart wants what it wants, Ori.  Don’t deny it.  Besides, twelve years isn’t _that_ large of an age gap.”

“Easy for you to say,” Ori mumbled.  “He was twice my age when the Outbreak hit.  Even now, I’m just a kid.”

Bilbo put a soft hand on Ori’s knee.  “You’ll just have to talk with him.”

 

Ori waited in the room all day, curled up and waiting for Dwalin.  They would be leaving in the morning for the Blue Mountain and he wanted to clear the air between them.  The orange light of the sunset came through the window, splashing across the bed and there was still no sign of Dwalin.  Ori dozed fitfully, half awake, until the door creaked open.

Dwalin stood, silhouetted in the doorway, and Ori pushed himself off the bed.

“Dwalin – ”

In two long strides, Dwalin was across the room, door shut behind him.  He swept Ori up in his arms, hands cradling Ori’s face as he pulled him up for a searing kiss.  Ori closed his eyes and gripped the front of Dwalin’s jacket, holding him in place.

Too soon, Dwalin pulled back, pressing their foreheads together and both of them breathing heavily.  Ori tightened his grip on Dwalin’s front and looked up at Dwalin from underneath his eyelashes.

“I don’t care,” Dwalin muttered against Ori’s lips.  “I don’t give a _damn_ about it.  You’re the one I want and I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”

“You don’t even know me,” Ori said though his grip didn’t lessen on Dwalin’s shirt.

“I want the chance to,” Dwalin said.  “We have a week of travel ahead of us and I don’t want to go on without you by my side.”

Ori nodded before he could process all of Dwalin’s words.  It had been two days and already, Ori wanted to be with Dwalin as long as he could.


	5. Chapter 5

Dori stayed up late with Nori.  Caelynn and Thorin had found a trail that would hopefully lead them to Ori.  At sunrise, they would leave.  Dori was busy frantically packing for the journey.  There was no knowing how long they would be gone for and he wanted to be prepared for the worst.

“Half the settlement is going to want to come with us,” Nori said.  “They would take the city by storm if it meant saving Ori.”

“They know better,” Dori said.  “Bombur and Bofur will watch over them while we’re gone.”

“And when they see Caelynn is coming with us?”

Dori’s hand paused from where it was reaching for his sleeping bag.  Caelynn went to school with Ori before the Outbreak.  A couple years older than him, they were together when the Outbreak hit.  She brought Ori back home and, when news of her family’s death came, she stayed.  Dori was no fool, he knew the rumors circulating through the Settlement of Dori playing favorites, of how Caelynn was a family friend and got special treatment from those who founded the Settlement.

“She found the trail,” Dori eventually said.  “She has the right to come with us.  She’s been Ori’s friend since the Outbreak.  They’ll understand.”  Dori strapped his sleeping bag onto his pack.  “I just… I don’t understand why Ori would have run off.  Dwalin picked him because he would fit on the bike.  Why would he leave?”

“We’ll just have to ask him when we find him.”

 

The next morning the rescue team left.  Bombur and Mirra, his beautiful and level-headed wife, promised to watch over the Settlement while they were gone.  With the sun just beginning to crest over the horizon, Dori followed Caelynn through the city with Thorin and Nori close behind.

Dori had been on plenty of scavenging runs in his time.  He had fought through hordes of zombies with only a golf club and his wits.  He had been to the city with Nori, before it was deemed too overrun for scav runs.

“You don’t have to come,” Dori said to Thorin as they made their way down to the city.  “You can go back to Erebor.”

“My friend is out there,” Thorin said.  “I can’t go back without him.”

“It’s a bloody miracle Caelynn even found a trail,” Nori said.  “The city has been overrun with a horde for months now.  The zombies should have been on us as soon as we entered.”

“Unless they were already following another group,” Thorin pointed out.  “We need to hurry if we want to catch up with them.  If they made it through, they have a full days advantage over us.”

Miracles, apparently, were plentiful today.  Their little rescue group attracted no attention of the horde as they crept through the city.  No matter how often Dori went out scavenging, he never got used to the shuffling sounds of the zombie horde.  The incessant groaning and growling, the smell of rotting flesh, all of it still sent Dori’s stomach turning.

With Caelynn’s sharp eyes and Thorin’s past experience, the four of them followed the main road to the south until they came across the city library.  It was Caelynn who pointed out the hastily built barrier against the massive double doors.

Dori couldn’t help but chuckle and he elbowed Nori.  Trust bookish Ori to hole up in a library during the zombie apocalypse.  Nori did a quick look around in the library and confirmed that Dwalin and Ori had stayed here over night.

They kept going.


End file.
